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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Obama Leads Romney In 7-Eleven Coffee Cup Poll

Every four years, some things happen like clockwork – leap year, the summer and winter Olympic games, U.S. presidential elections, and with it, 7-Eleven®'s 7-Election™Presidential Coffee Cup Poll.

In past years, millions of everyday Americans have participated in
the 7-Election vote as they go about their daily routines. While many
states offer early voting that typically begins a few days before Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 6), the 2012 7-Election voting starts really early – September.

Billed as unabashedly unofficial and unscientific, 7-Election invites
customers to vote by selecting specially marked coffee cups, blue for
President Barack Obama and red for former Gov. Mitt Romney.
7-Eleven's regular "nonpartisan" cups are also available for undecided
customers or those who would rather not publicize their presidential
preference. Patriotic coffee-drinkers can vote at participating 7-Eleven
stores as early and as often as they want in the two months leading up
to the national election.

As of September 13, 2012, Obama leads Romney 58% to 42% nationwide so far in the coffee cup poll. Obama's lead narrows to 54% to 46% in Florida.

7-Election cups are instantly tabulated at the register when the sale
is made. National, state and major market results will be posted daily
on www.7-election.com,
a website created especially for the coffee-cup poll. Poll tallies will
reflect the percentage of candidate cups sold to date, not including
7-Eleven's regular ("undecided") cups. Participating 7-Eleven stores are
encouraged to post their stores' latest race results at the hot
beverage islands.

"Each day, almost 7 million Americans visit our neighborhood stores
on their way to work, after school or while they're out and about.
Around 1 million of those purchase a cup of 7-Eleven coffee," said
7-Eleven, Inc. President and CEO Joe DePinto.
"While we have never billed 7-Election as scientific or statistically
valid, it is astounding just how accurate this simple count-the-cups
poll has been – election after election. We have had a lot of fun with
it, and I hope we have encouraged people how important it is to vote in
the real election."

7-Eleven has added several new elements to perk up the company's 2012 campaign including its second annual CofFREE Day, Friday, Sept. 28. As a nod to National Coffee Day (officially on Saturday, Sept. 29), which occurs during the 7-Election campaign, 7-Eleven encourages people to stop by stores and vote their choices. Between 6 and 10 a.m.
that day, customers can vote by selecting a free large cup of coffee in
their preferred blue or red cup. During that same time period,
nonpartisan large-size 7-Eleven cups also are available for free. This
is the first CofFREE Day held during 7-Election, and voter turnout is
expected to be strong – as is the coffee.

New this year, 7-Eleven has partnered with The Onion, a popular, Peabody award-winning news satire organization, to help get out the vote. The retailer is sponsoring The Onion's
"War for the White House" news coverage, which includes four exclusive
news vignettes that can be seen on Onion News and the 7-Election
website.

Also, a special "Mobile Oval"political party bus featuring a mini-presidential Oval Office on wheels will be traversing the country from Friday, Sept. 28, through Election Day,
Nov, 6. The very-visible vehicle will make multiple campaign stops,
with the 7-Eleven grassroots team offering free coffee samples, handing
out coupons and taking photos of visitors in the Mobile Oval or with
their favorite candidate. Tweets from the road will appear on Twitter
(#mobileoval), and a map highlighting the bus route will be updated
regularly on the 7-Election website.

Other elements of 2012 7-Election include a grassroots-on-wheels
campaign. Festooned with backdrops that include life-sized likenesses of
each of the two candidates, 7-Eleven sampling buses are serving up both
great coffee and photo opportunities with their favorite
two-dimensional candidate through Election Day.

**In
the 2000 7-Election, all cup sales, including unmarked "nonpartisan"
cups, were tallied. In subsequent years, only the candidate cups were
included in the results.

7-Eleven customers also will see the return of vanilla-flavored "Purple for the People" Slurpee®
drinks at participating 7-Eleven stores, billed as a "peace-maker"
beverage to unite the country. During the contentious mid-term 2010
elections, 7-Eleven created the unifying purple drink to symbolically
unite the red and blue sides of the political spectrum.

7-Eleven was the first U.S. retailer to offer fresh-brewed coffee in
to-go cups back in the mid 1960s. It proved an instant success.
Customers liked fixing their coffee the way they wanted it – choosing
cup size, regular or decaffeinated, and adding sweeteners and creamers
to suit their tastes. Today, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee
than anything else – 1 million cups per day. In each of the past
7-Election polls, more than 6 million candidate cups were cast.

While a nonpartisan beverage enjoyed by Democrats and Republicans
alike, coffee does have deep political roots in American history. In
1607, Captain John Smith in Virginia
introduced coffee in America, and it was named the national beverage by
the First Continental Congress after the Boston Tea Party.